1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device and method for repositioning an organ such as the heart during a surgical procedure and more particularly to a selectively inflated pad positioned immediately adjacent to the heart during minimally invasive surgery.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In open-heart surgery, such as during bypass surgery, a patient's chest cavity is split longitudinally along the sternum and separated to open the chest cavity and expose the heart. With the chest cavity open, the surgeon can easily grasp the heart by hand and manipulate it into the desired position. Unfortunately, opening the chest cavity in the conventional manner is extremely traumatic to the patient, requiring lengthy recuperation.
More recently, minimally invasive surgery (MIS), most usually associated with laparoscopic surgery, has been applied to coronary bypass surgery. One problem associated with this technique is that the surgeon can no longer manipulate the heart by hand resulting in greater difficulty in completing the surgical procedure.